Modern technology has facilitated the improvement of a wide variety of toys. Examples of the technological enhancement of well-known toys are numerous and include balls that illuminate or measure their velocities when thrown, radio-controlled toy cars having increased receiver range, and board games with LCD, LED, or even video displays.
Dolls, action figures, puppets, and the like have long been among the most popular toys, especially among younger children. One type of well-known toy is a doll that xe2x80x9cspeaksxe2x80x9d or emits other sounds when a particular action is taken by the user, such as by pulling a cord to activate an internal tape player. Other means of eliciting particular reactions, sound-related or otherwise, from such dolls have generally included the activation of one or more of a variety of sensors located on the bodies of the dolls.
Finger puppets offer many of the same persona-like qualities associated with larger puppets, dolls, or action figures while having additional benefits. A significant benefit of finger puppets is that, due to their smaller size and their ability to be disposed on and supported by a single finger, a user may hold, and in fact play with, several finger puppets simultaneously. A child might, for example, place five or six such puppets on various fingers and imagine or verbalize a conversation among the personas represented by the finger puppets. In such an instance, the child might wiggle or bend the finger supporting the puppet representing a particular persona while uttering or imagining what that persona would say in such a conversation, to create the semblance of the finger puppet actually verbalizing.
As indicated, certain puppets, dolls, and action figures can be made to produce sounds, even sounds representing speech, and the mechanisms for actuating the sounds vary considerably. U.S. Pat. No. 5,447,461, for example, discloses a sound-generating hand puppet wherein manually pivoting the jaws of the puppet activates a sound-producing integrated circuit to imitate an animal cry, shouting, singing, or a human voice. Another example of a hand-held puppet having sound generation capability is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,457. The puppet disclosed therein includes a circuit for producing a tone having a pseudo-randomly varying audio frequency and a modulator to coordinate sound with the hand-controlled animation of the puppet. These puppets require, however, that the entire hand be used to support the puppets and activate the sound-producing circuits; thus, a user could, at most utilize two such puppets simultaneously, one on each hand. This is a less than satisfactory situation for individual users who want to play with more than two puppets at once or where it is desired to have more than one persona represented by each available hand among a group of puppeteers.
The present invention therefore provides a sound-generating finger puppet wherein more than one such puppet can be supported and activated with a single hand. The present invention also provides a sound-generating finger puppet wherein such puppet can be supported and primarily activated with a single finger. The present invention also includes a method for producing electronic sound generation in a puppet supportable on a single finger.
In one embodiment of the invention there is provided a finger puppet having electronic sound-generation capability. The finger puppet includes a finger puppet body defining a hole for accommodating an inserted finger therein, an electronic sound chip disposed within the body for generating an electronic signal upon activation thereof, an activation switch for activating the electronic sound chip, and a speaker for receiving the electronic signal from the sound chip and producing a sound corresponding to the signal.
In another embodiment of the invention there is provided a sound-generating finger puppet supportable on and activatable primarily with a single finger. The puppet includes a finger puppet body defining a hole for accommodating an inserted finger therein and sound-generating apparatus disposed within the body for generating sound upon activation thereof. The inserted finger is generally capable of activating the sound-generating apparatus while remaining inserted in the hole in the finger puppet body.
In yet another embodiment of the invention there is provided a method for activating electronic sound generation in a finger puppet. The finger puppet includes a body defining a hole therein for accommodating an inserted finger from a user""s hand. The puppet body further includes an electronic sound chip disposed therein for generating an electronic signal upon activation thereof. The puppet body further includes a speaker for receiving the electronic signal from the sound chip and producing a sound corresponding to the signal, and a button for activating the electronic sound chip. The button is disposed on a side of the hole. The method includes the steps of inserting a finger into the hole such that a portion of the finger is adjacent the button, bending the finger until the finger portion contacts the button and the finger puppet body rotates into contact with a portion of the user""s hand other than the finger portion contacting the button, and depressing the button with the finger portion relative to the finger puppet body to activate the electronic sound chip, thereby producing sound from the speaker. The relative depressing is enabled by the contact between the finger puppet body and the portion of the user""s hand supporting the body against pressure exerted against the button by the portion of the finger.